Friday 14 October 2011

Red Cabbage

Why is it that Red (purple!) Cabbage is so different to green cabbage? I suppose it is because it loses its red colour when boiled and ends up looking grey and unappetising. For this reason, we normally use Red Cabbage in a way which allows the use of vinegar, which helps the cabbage to retain its colour.

A couple of days ago I wrote about the venison meal we had, including braised Red Cabbage. This post tells you more about it. This was the starting point - one "Marner Langerrot" cabbage. It weighed 900 grams.


I used only half of it to make my braised cabbage dish, because it was very densely-packed.


It's amazingly beautiful isn't it?


I removed the central core and with a large knife shredded the leaves


I put the shredded cabbage into a large ovenproof casserole and added the following;
1 x cooking apple, peeled, cored and diced
1 x dessertspoon brown sugar
1 x tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 x teaspoon balsamic vinegar
(Some people might like to add a few raisins for extra sweetness)

I mixed the ingredients by hand to distribute the vinegar evenly, then covered the dish and put it into a slow oven (approx 120C) for four hours. Every hour or so I checked progress and stirred the dish to prevent it drying. Depending on the moisture content of your cabbage and apple, you may need to add a little water. I didn't.

When cooked the cabbage should be reasonably soft but not sloppy. It's nice if it retains a bit of texture. This is what mine looked like:


Braised Red Cabbage re-heats well, so this is something you can make in advance a set aside for warming up later, which takes a bit of the stress out of co-ordinating all the elements of a meal. Just to remind you, this is how mine was served - with venison steak, potato-and-celeriac mash and roast parsnips...


Braised Red Cabbage is also a classic accompaniment to Lancashire Hotpot.

If you're wondering what became of the other half of my cabbage - Jane made it into Pickled Red Cabbage - if you need a recipe, follow the link...


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P.S. I had quite a few comments yesterday on the Callicarpa photo, so I thought I would pander to the whims of the Callicarpa fans and post a couple more photos of it...




9 comments:

  1. Your red cabbage home grown is a winner! Your tasty red cabbage dish looks equally tasty & lovely!

    You have a lovely blog! Many greetings from a foodie from Belgium!

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  2. The recipe sounds great but I could never leave something in my oven for 4 hours. It might be fine in the crock pot though.

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  3. I am really looking forward to my red cabbage putting on some weight so i can feast on it braised. Yours looks delicious.

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  4. Red cabbage is fascinating and pretty. But if ever you have guests you would never like to see again, serve them rice that has been cooked with red cabbage. Tastes fine - but, my, does it look terrible!

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  5. I have a recipe for braised red cabbage on my website I add onions to mine and as you say sometimes raisins. I'm thinking of also adding some beetroot as a variation.

    I once created a batik design based on the cross section of a red cabbage!

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  6. Funnily enough I made a beetroot dish for dinner tonight which used pretty much the same ingredients (with the obvious substitution) and was much the same colour too. I want my cabbages to get fatter than I can make this as well - although I may try for a quicker stove top version as 4 hours forethought may be a little too ambitious for me.

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  7. Excellent this post That's good look

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  8. A proper supper! Looks great, and the Callicarpa is spectacular.

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  9. Never really knew what to do with red cabbage. Your recipe sounds really good. I'll be trying it out. Thank you for the recipe.

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